I'm not even sure where exactly to start with the mess that was Notre Dame's loss to Northwestern. Typing "Notre Dame's loss to Northwestern" doesn't even make sense to me. The Irish lost and gave up 43 points to a team that hasn't even cracked 30 all season. Iowa blew these guys out. But here we are in what I consider the worst loss since I walked on to campus in 2003. Oh sure, we've lost to worse teams, but those ND teams were objectively terrible. While this team isn't ...
KeiVarae Russell
Notre Dame Isn’t a Playoff Caliber Team and That’s Just Fine
No, this will not be a post that will excuse Notre Dame for a rather terrible performance on the road against Arizona State. No team should turn the ball over five times and expect to win against a ranked team. Period. Beyond the turnovers, Arizona State put a hell of a game together, consistently putting pressure on Golson, notching seven sacks and giving him happy feet the whole game. In the first half, Arizona State ran at a totally different speed than the Irish defense that looked ...
Friday Roundup: The “Unlikely Bedfellows” Edition
When TMZ decides to email HLS directly about a story they broke, we should know that something crazy will soon motor down the highway for a head-on collision of weird. This week's edition has freshman WR Justin Brent on a date with 42 year-old porn star, Lisa Ann. Honestly, I cared very little for the "shocking" news. I wasn't even completely convinced of the claims of a date as the information TMZ had to prove the claim just came from a "we're told that" and nothing more. So, it could've ...
UPDATE: DaVaris Daniels “Done” at Notre Dame, Ishaq Williams Out for 2014, and Kendall Moore’s ND Career Comes to an End
Back when I did the HLS prediction post this past Friday, we knew that KeiVarae Russell told the team that he was done for the 2014 season as a result of the academic investigations that have been underway since August. Russell stated that he would return in 2015 and Brian Kelly stated that Ishaq Williams relayed the same information to him when asked in today's presser for the weekly Marooned Five update. That update, however, was provided after Kelly was asked about DaVaris Daniels' status ...
Notre Dame Unmatched On and Off the Field
Through three weeks, Notre Dame has already blown past expectations for 2014. And they've grossly exceeded moral expectations for any football program, professional or college. The 3-0 record may have been foreseen at this point by many Irish fans, but did we know that there would be two 30-plus point victories? Did we know that we'd have a poor performance against a rival and still find a way to coast to a victory (which is more than we could say at this point in 2012)? Did we know that ...
Notre Dame, Academic Fraud, Accountability, Narrative, and You
On the list of things that I was concerned about for the 2014 season, academic fraud ranked somewhere around the same level as a meteor strike in South Bend. Academic issues? Sure, based on recent history, that was definitely in the back of my mind, but seeing Fr. Jenkins and a bearded Jack Swarbrick announce to the world that Notre Dame was investigating serious academic fraud? Not a chance in hell. Make no mistake, I'm absolutely furious. Not at DaVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore, KeiVarae ...
Friday Roundup: The “Notre Dame Fall Camp 2014 Catch-Up” Edition
Once WatchND started pumping out Notre Dame football fall camp practice videos, I was all in for breaking each one down. It worked great for the first two practices, but then practice #3 happened and saw the video breakdown was a position profile for the CBs. Don't get me wrong, the feature was great, but a basically started at my title of "Fall Camp Practice Report #3: CB Report" for about an hour and realized there was no way that I could even drag 100 words out of the topic. So I passed ...
Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Defensive Backs
If the defensive line and wide receiver position groups raised questions, Notre Dame's secondary is a group full of answers. From Max Redfield at safety to fifth-year arriviste Cody Riggs, the Irish will enjoy a very solid, if inexperienced, two-deep. What new Defensive Coordinator Brian VanGorder does with the pieces will be an added wrinkle that has opposing offensive coordinators head-scratching at this point. If past is prologue or history repeats itself, Irish fans should expect a very ...
Ranking the Irish Roster: Tex’s Top 25
Every year, Keith Arnold over at Inside the Irish does an annual ranking of the top 25 players on the Notre Dame roster. This year marks the second year that I have been able to contribute and, this time around, I wanted to give a break down of my rankings. Thankfully, I don't have to justify ranking a kicker #1 (NEVER FORGET) or leaving our starting QB off the top 25 list (NEVER FORGET THIS AS WELL). So without further ado, let's get to the rankings. ...
Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Defensive Backs
Leading up to the 2012 season, I said that Jamoris Slaughter’s ability to lead Notre Dame’s young secondary would be critical to the team’s defensive success. Well, a popped Achilles, a true freshman running back playing cornerback, and a bunch of Bobby Diaco voodoo later and the Irish put together an excellent season on the back end of the defense. Despite Slaughter being denied a sixth year of eligibility and Zeke Motta being drafted by the Atlanta Falcons, the Irish do return the bulk of ...